APRIL 1-7,2017 The EastAfrican TEMPORARILY BARRED Now court stops recruitment of foreign medics 400 docto≥s f≥om Tanzania have applied to come and wo≥k in Kenya By BEATRICE MATERU Special Correspondent government from hiring foreign doctors. Some 400 Tanzanian medical O doctors had applied for jobs in Kenya at the close of the recruitment window on March 27, even as Kenya’s Health Ministry said it had not shut the door on applicants. Justice Nelson Abuodha of the Employment and Labour Relations Court issued the order after five Kenyan doctors sued the Ministry of Health, the Council of Governors, the Public Service Commission and the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board for seeking to hire foreigners. Doctors Kahindi Menza, Yunas Shee, Lilian Magara, Victor Mutisya and Aldran Liguyani argued that there are 1,400 unemployed trained doctors in the country, and sought orders compelling the government to absorb them. n Friday, a Kenyan court temporarily barred the 21. A hearing was set for April Tanzania President John Magufuli had agreed to allow 500 Tanzanian doctors to work in Kenya. “We haven’t stopped receiving new applications. So far, only 400 have applied,” said Nsachris Mwamwaja, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Health. The recruitment will involve a special panel that will look at the applications and set further processes. According to information obtained by The EastAfrican, doctors in Tanzania are paid about Tsh1.4 million ($613) and specialists get Tsh1.8 million ($788) per month. This may vary depending on the number of years served. Public doctors in Kenya, who train for six years at universities, earn a basic salary of $400 to $850 a month. There are five medical schools in Tanzania: The governmentrun Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, which produces 72 per cent of Kenyan doctors on strike in February. On Friday, the labour court stopped the government from recruiting foreign doctors. Picture: File medics annually, the privatelyowned Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre that produces 18 per cent, Bugando University College of Health Sciences with 6.5 per cent, the Herbert Kairuki Memorial University at 0.8 per cent, and the International Medical and Technological University with 0.4 per cent. Medical school costs up to $25,000 for the five-year course, and students then undergo a five-year internship at a staterun health facility. All medical students are funded by a 100 per cent loan from the government. Tanzania’s doctor to patient ratio is 1 to 28,000 compared with Kenya at 1 to 17,000, according to the Task Sharing Policy Guidelines for Health Sector Services in Tanzania report of 2016. “Tanzania has a more severe shortage of doctors compared to Kenya. The country needs 771 doctors while only 57 are in place for health centres, apart from 328 doctors in regional hospitals out of 725 that the country needs. In general THE POLITICAL future of the Democratic Republic of Congo remains uncertain, after mediation efforts led by the Catholic Church ended without an agreement between the government and the opposition. The National Episcopal Conference DRC mediation ends in stalemate 40 By ROBERT MBARAGA Special Correspondent People killed in clashes between the government and opposition last December of Congo (Cenco), which has since last December been trying to get the two sides to co-manage the country during the transition, threw in the towel on March 27. Cenco blamed lack of political will from the presidential majority and the opposition grouped under the Rassemblement platform. Protests broke out after the talks collapsed, amplifying fears of violence akin to the December 2016 clashes, in which at least 40 people were killed and 147 wounded. After the bishops announced their with- drawal, youths barricaded roads and burned tyres on Tuesday and Wednesday in several parts of Kinshasa and in the southeastern city of Lubumbashi. Charles Bambara, spokesperson of the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, called for restraint and calm. DRC is facing insecurity in Kasai Province. Confrontation between security forces and the Kamwina Nsapu militia have killed more than 100 people in the past two months. Under an agreement reached last December, presidential and legislative elections should be held in December 2017, and President Joseph Kabila will not be a candidate. However, analysts fear the unfolding delays in implementing the accord point to the likelihood of President Kabila holding on to power beyond the transition period. “All signs at present point to Kabila clinging to power as long as he can. The election delay is a ruse designed to allow Kabila to marshal all resources at his disposal to change the Constitution to allow him a third term and to rig the vote in his favour,” said Phil Clark, a professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. The two parties still differ on the method of appointing a prime minister, who is to be selected from the coalition of opposition parties. Tanzania has a shortage of 2,430 doctors, far worse than Kenya,” reads of the Medical Association of Tanzania (MAT) statement. “It is also important to note that doctors in Kenya have been in a 100-day strike, which was intended to push for improvements to their working environment. We request to cease the move to allow proper consultation between Kenyan doctors and their government,” the statement added. Soon after the two governments’ agreement, MAT raised the issue of safety and security for Tanzanian doctors deployed to Kenya. However, the Kenyan government has assured the medics of their safety. Freeman Mbowe, chairman of the main opposition party Chadema, said the Tanzanian doctors would be in danger. “Chadema supports the doctors to work outside the country, but not at this time because their lives will be endangered and they will face greater resistance from their fellow doctors in Kenya who were on strike,” he said. The Minister of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Ummy Mwalimu said the NEWS 5 ON CONTRACT Tanzania through its Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children invited qualified medical officers to apply to work in Kenya. Successful medical doctors would be given two to threeyear contracts, and would be dispatched to national, county and faith-based health facilities across the country. Kenyan government has assured security and safety for Tanzanian doctors in the country. “This is a great opportunity for our doctors, since the Tanzanian government is not capable of hiring all existing medical doctors in the country in spite of a deficit in the hospital and health centres,” said Ms Mwalimu. Additional reporting by Maureen Kakah